Dividing America

Dear Editor:

I read with incredulity (but not too much), G. Sutherlands opinion that David Blake is such a meanie to Republicans and it’s President Obama’s fault that the country is so divided. Does she think the nearly weekly vitriolic columns from Jim, Jeff, Eugene, Gary et. al. are just good old country fun. Everyone knows Democrats and the left are just a bunch of (fill in the blank from one of their opinion pieces) and are destroying America as we know it. Rush and FOX says it’s true, so it must be so.

A little history lesson is needed here. The idea for FOX was hatched in the Nixon administration by Roger Ailes and his cronies. They wanted and needed a Republican newspaper to counter those liars in the “liberal media,” (Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid, Peter Jennings, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, et al.), from exposing Nixon’s transgressions and the conservative movements agenda. During the Reagan years, Reagan’s favorite newspaper became the Washington Times after the Rev. Sun Myung Moon bought the paper in 1982. This was the “conservative movements” voice and began the blurring of facts with opinion. Then in 1985, Rupert Murdock purchased a group of unaffiliated stations including the Christian Broadcasting Company, that have evolved into FOX. Both those endeavors were losing financial propositions, but were funded by deep pocketed conservatives to push the right’s propaganda.

In 1984, Rush Limbaugh replaced Morton Downey Jr as a talk show host and with the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 Rush’s one sided talk show was born. From 1992-1996 Rush even had a television show produced by Roger Ailes. In the 1990s the sheep’s clothing came off with the election of Bill Clinton. I’m not going to list all the right wing media’s claims and accusations about the Clintons, but as bad as they were they were not nearly as disrespectful and constant as what President Obama has had to deal with.

So for nearly 30 years now the right wing hate radio (which has over 90% of the air time due to media consolidation), FOX TV and conservative newspapers have been dividing Americans by using the fear of gays, and gun laws, calling Democrats godless and by denigrating all things they consider democratic organizations (unions, teachers, government workers, peace protesters, etc.). To claim that President Obama is the cause of a divided America just shows the propaganda has worked.